Influenza
by Blood Red Vampress
Summary: Gabe comes down with the flu and ignores his symptoms, almost collapsing at work. Luckily, Maria is there to bring him home, take care of him and tell him what a dumbass he is. Gabe/Maria pairing. Rated T for language and suggestive themes.


**So, this randomly popped into my head so I figured why not write it. I'm a HUGE Gabe/Maria fan, so yeah. :) **

**This will probably be a total of three parts, so enjoy reading!**

**_Recommended song while reading: "Kill The Humans" by Hypnogaja_**

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Influenza- Part 1

"Doctor Cunningham. Are you not feeling well?," RONI asked in her usual monotonous computer-generated voice.

The exam room was pristine, not a speck of dust in sight. The white cabinets were gleaming and the silver surfaces, including the sink, were reflecting with the harsh sunlight streaming in from the window to the left. Directly ahead in the room was the waist-high exam table that the doctor in question sat upon.

His patient had just left and he took a seat on top of the table, wishing he could play patient for the day and not have to do any work.

But, on the inside, it was no joke. His white bloods cells were rushing around in his body like the workers they are, trying to fight off the virus that was slowly replicating itself inside of him, making him sicker by the second.

On the outside, his hair was as messy as usual, but what was out of the ordinary was the way he generally looked. Most of the time he looked invincible, but now he looked like hell had frozen over. His eyes were bloodshot with dark rings under them. His face was pallid and was sleek with the perspiration from the cold sweat he had developed since last night. His hands were slightly shaky and his cheeks looked sallow as though he had significantly lost weight recently. It was blatantly obvious, even to someone without a medical degree, that Dr. Cunningham was not feeling well. So, in a sense, RONI was Captain Obvious, so he just opted to ignore her.

Actually, he didn't ignore her so much as he couldn't answer. His stomach was churning violently and he felt as though he would vomit if he so much as opened his mouth a tiny bit. To top it all off, his throat was throbbing like a heartbeat in the back of his mouth. It was because of the countless times he had thrown up last night.

"Uh, just cancel all my other appointments for today," he muttered, trying to think rationally about what was happening to him.

_I mean, come on. I'm a diagnostician for God's sake. Pull it together and figure out what the hell is wrong with yourself, Gabe_, he thought to himself.

Suddenly, his stomach lurched and he felt the bile rise in his throat.

"Dr. Cunningham?," RONI asked again, sensing his discomfort.

He didn't answer. This time, he jumped off the table and made a beeline straight for his office door. The bathroom he was aiming for was only two doors down the hall.

With his throat burning with his stomach contents, Gabe rushed out of the door, running like a madman out of his office.

Maria, unfortunately, happened to be coming down the hall at the same exact time. With a harsh look, Gabe pushed her out of the way and flew into the bathroom.

"Hey, you moron!," Maria yelled as she pulled herself together.

She turned around to see the bathroom door swinging closed and the horrid sounds of someone, Gabe, no doubt, retching within.

"Hey, Gabe...?," Maria muttered.

All the ferocity left her body and she felt a little guilty for yelling so vehemently at him a second ago. But as soon as the guiltiness came, it left. And a sense of despair and panic rushed into her body.

Looking at the bathroom door that read "Men" and realizing what she was about to do, Maria sighed.

With a bit of anger, she flung open the bathroom door and stepped inside, immediately looking for any sign of Gabe.

"Gabe?," she called.

She was only met with a moan. She turned the corner and walked down the aisle of stalls, many of which were filled with people, until she found the doctor on his knees, hunched over the porcelain bowl, the stall door wide open.

He had stopped vomiting, but was dry heaving violently, one arm wrapped around his midsection, the other holding him up against the toilet.

"Gabe...," Maria stepped into the tiny area and put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Dr. Cunningham coughed twice and pulled back, kneeling back on his toes. Maria reacher up above his head and flushed the toilet.

"Hey, it's a woman!," some man called out from behind her.

_How immature_, Maria thought to herself.

Before she knew it, a crowd of men that were in the bathroom had formed around the outside of the stall, watching the events unfold.

"Move it!," Maria growled, helping Gabe to get up.

"Ugh," Gabe moaned.

He finally managed to get to his feet and followed behind Maria as she pushed through the growing crowd on spectators.

They went to the sink, where he could wash out his mouth.

"Take your time, Gabe," Maria said as Gabe all but shoved his head in the sink.

There were murmurs from the group of men that were curious about what was really going on.

"Is that a doctor?"

"Hey. Who is she?"

"Yeah. I want to know what gives her the right to be in here. If we went into a woman's bathroom-"

"Oh, give it a rest. I'm a doctor currently working as a paramedic. I work here, so in an emergency, I can be anywhere in this hospital I please," she looked at them. "If you have a complaint, take it up with Esha Patel, the director of Resurgam."

They all shut up at that.

"Now, please, give him some room and go about your business," Maria continued. "I have this under control. There's nothing to see here."

With a few more mutters, the majority of the small crowd broke up, most of which left the bathroom.

Gabe shut off the water and looked up into the mirror, a disgusting taste still lingering in his mouth.

"Hey," Maria said. "You alright? What was that about?"

"Nothin'," he answered.

Gabe walked away from the mirror and grabbed some tissue from the dispenser, sapping his mouth and hands dry. He straightened up fully, fixed his lab coat in its proper place, coughed twice and threw out the tissue in the garbage.

"Don't tell me that nothign is wrong with you. I'm not blind you know," Maria said. "Are you sick?"

"No. I'm fine, Maria," he answered unconvincingly.

"Maybe I should just ask RONI. She never lies," Maria glared at him. "And that little episode of yours sure didn't _sound_ very healthy."

He didn't answer. Instead, he silently made his way out of the bathroom.

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**Thanks so much for reading the first part! **

**(And I swear, there will be NO character death. Gabe will survive!) XP**

**So, leave me a review? I'd really appreciate it! **


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